Horsemeat scandal spreads to Asia

AFP, PARIS

The move came amid outcry over an investigative consumer show that aired Tuesday evening on Swiss public television, featuring images taken by animal protection activists showing starving and visibly sick and suffering horses on farms in a number of countries that provide meat to Swiss stores.

The Zurich-based Animal Protection Association had sent investigators to large horsemeat producing countries Canada, the US, Mexico and Argentina to probe how the animals were kept, transported and slaughtered.

“Our investigators found that the horses were bred in conditions that did not meet any of the norms in place in Switzerland and the European Union,” project leader Sabrina Gurtner said.

Coop, however, said it would continue to sell fresh horsemeat, adding that it receives 70 percent of that meat from France and the remaining 30 percent from Poland.